Galileo would be shocked

Your metaphor of “light” was right on the mark with regard to the continuing suppression of certain scientific research in Canada since Stephen Harper has been Prime Minister.

Light is scary for anyone who is hiding and concealing ignorance or indifference. It was the Enlightenment in western civilization, beginning in the 16th century, that finally allowed a freer expression in science and the humanities. The present government could almost stand in for the Church in those bleak days when any scientific or artistic inquiry that came into conflict with the established doctrine was brutally suppressed.

Galileo, in the early 17th century, who was faced with torture to retract his “heretical” proof that the Earth went around the sun, would be in total accord with today’s scientists. He’d also be shocked that the types of scientific research, which benefit humankind, would still be stifled in the 21st century.